Demonetisation: Apps help you find the ‘stocked’ ATM

NEW DELHI: Finding a working ATM has become difficult as most of them run out of cash within an hour or two of being refilled. Here’s what you can do: websites like Cashnocash.com, Atmsearch. in and even Google India’s home page will let you search for an ATM in your vicinity.

If you have your smartphone around, apps like Walnut Expense Tracker, CashNoCash and CMS ATM Finder promise to keep you informed about nearby ATMs, cash availability and estimated wait time.

But how does it work? Apps like Walnut collect anonymous data from a user’s smartphone. When you withdraw cash from an ATM, you get an SMS from the bank with details on the ATM location and amount withdrawn. Walnut’s primary job is to read that SMS and update expenses for you.

When the app detects an ATM withdrawal SMS, it automatically marks that bank ATM in your location as a working ATM with cash. The app will ask you if the queue for the ATM was long or short – based on the answer, it will alert other users. CashNoCash is also crowdsourced, but it requires users to voluntarily share information.

The only exception is the CMS ATM finder app, operated by the CMS group, an ATM cash management company. They update information when one of their cash vans deposits money in an ATM machine. In our experience, this makes the CMS app more accurate compared to the other apps.

The downside is that CMS can only list ATMs that are serviced by them.

Using these apps does improve your odds of finding a working ATM, but watch out for the time stamp. The faster you are, the better your chances.